Weather poses problems for investigators searching for second body on Stockholm's May Road

Monday, March 24, 2014 - 3:00 pm

STOCKHOLM -- The cold weather posed a problem over the weekend for investigators digging for a second body they think might be buried at 733 May Rd., according to state police

Nothing new has been found since state police located one body and continued searching for another last last week.

Any autopsies are being delayed while investigators continue their search for the second body, police said.

Police obtained a search warrant and began looking for the bodies of who they believe to be Alvin and Betty Babcock last Wednesday.

Police reported Friday that they had found the remains of one of the residents of the house and were warming up the ground to get at another buried there, according to a third resident of the house, Robert Bartlett.

But their efforts to find the second body were hampered by winter-like temperatures as they tried to warm up the ground to dig.

Troopers said an effort to identify the one body was underway and that an autopsy would be held to determine the cause of death. County Coroner Jamie Sienkiewycz was working investigators on those tasks.

But state police said Monday they were not planning to start any autopsy until they find “something more,” said at trooper at Troop B headquarters in Ray Brook.

WWNY-tv reported that investigators had found the remains of one person in a wooden box that was unearthed by investigators at the scene Friday, but any evidence that it was either Alvin and Betty Babcock, the couple who had lived at that address, has not been revealed.

The couple lived in the rented trailer home with another man, Robert Bartlett, according to the news report.

Bartlett has allegedly told police that he buried the body of one of the residents, but that he did not kill either of them.

The Troop B Forensic Identification Unit is processing the scene. The investigation is being conducted by the New York State Police in Canton, in conjunction with St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain.